08 Mar AS OF MARCH 5, 2016, CRUZ/RUBIO IS THE TICKET TO RESTORE AMERICA
Super Tuesday results point the path to saving America. It is very simple: Ted Cruz is the Presidential nominee in 2016; Marco Rubio is his running mate, and the goal is 16 years of optimistic, conservative, Constitution-upholding, common sense American leadership.
Hillary Clinton would suffer a Mondale-level landslide against Cruz/Rubio; the millennial generation would have their eyes opened after the blindness of college and the Obama years; and a new generation of Americans would come into the world that embraces and honors American ideals. On Ladies, Can We Talk?, we’re always talking about the need to relearn and reclaim the American identity.
Cruz/Rubio would be a giant leap in the right direction.
Does Senator Rubio love America enough to yield the spotlight and take the VP slot—for the larger cause of saving the constitutional republic that is America? Human ego considerations say no. The incredible grind of a presidential campaign, the high-pressure debates, the hard-won endorsements, the millions of dollars in donations from fervent supporters—all make it enormously difficult to bow out. You’re in the Super Bowl of politics, and you can’t really know if you’ll ever have another chance. And so the idea of bowing out, when you’ve been a certified political superstar almost your entire career—well, it just doesn’t come easy.
But here’s the upside: Rubio is a young man, not even 45 years old until later this year. He’s 53 years old after two terms of President Cruz, and poised to build on and continue the conservative governing philosophy they both share. Eight years alongside Cruz will allow a complete redemption of Rubio from the Gang of Eight fiasco.
Sure there is big risk that after eight years of any administration, Americans tend to want to make a change. Plus it’s fair to assume Cruz and Rubio may not always be on the same page as to the top priorities for action and for the actions themselves. So it’s no big insight to note that it is by no means a sure thing that Rubio could succeed two terms of a Cruz presidency (it’s obviously not a sure thing that there would even be a second Cruz term).
But it is the nature of the challenge facing America today that it will take 16 years of strong conservative leadership to restore this country—to restore an understanding of the Constitution and of the universality of American ideals for all eras, and for all races, ethnicities, genders, etc. The media in particular and academia need to be almost completely re-staffed and re-educated. So Cruz and Rubio need to rise to this challenge, which includes at the outset the recognition of how serious the challenge is, and how long it is going to take to meet it.
Two Cuban Americans, rising to save America. How cool is that?
And here’s the downside if Rubio won’t exit soon: he’s going to lose his home state in the March 15th primary, and it won’t be close. And it won’t be close, not because Donald Trump has resorts in Florida, and not because Donald Trump is a superior debater (he’s not; the last two GOP debates have totally undressed Trump) or a more qualified candidate. It will be because the people that put Rubio into office as a Senator are the ones who feel most irredeemably betrayed by Rubio’s deceit and sell-out in the Gang of Eight. They haven’t forgotten, and they aren’t going to forget between now and March 15th.
Senator Rubio cannot get trounced in his home state, by the voters who know him best, and realistically expect to emerge victorious later, from a brokered convention (which is Rubio’s best case outcome from where things currently stand).
And Rubio knows it would be suicidal for his candidacy if Cruz dropped out of the race, because the large majority of Cruz supporters will go right to Donald Trump. Not a single vote for Trump has been a vote against Ted Cruz; they’ve all been some combination of for Trump and against the ruling class. Trump supporters (and Cruz supporters) want no part of anything that smells like establishment, and Rubio/Gang of Eight reeks of establishment.
So Rubio’s question is whether to take a VP slot with Cruz, with its many upsides that would come from winning the general, or go with an all-or-nothing campaign for the No. 1 slot in 2016.
We think a Cruz/Rubio ticket has a 75+% shot to win the general; we think Rubio in an all-or-nothing campaign for the No.1 slot has less than a 5% shot at winning—and losing means Donald Trump is the GOP nominee, a possibility that could render Rubio’s political future, even as a would-be high-paid lobbyist, very, very shaky.
It all comes down to what Rubio means when he says he loves this country.
Marco—the die is cast. Will you answer the call?